Total Drama Public
by Masochistic Phantasm
Summary: Lightning rounds of challenges hosted by Chris, my OC siblings as the crew. Every app will be accepted, be sure to read the rules.
1. Chapter 1

So, here's my first story...which is a send in your app sort of gig. But believe me, it's different, it really really is! oh yeah, and the secret phrase is Afghanistan Bananastan. You'll figure it out.

Rules-

-ALL CHARATERS WILL BE ACCEPTED, so DON'T send in more than one person.

- fill in the app however you like, i can still write a story even if all i get are generic loner/goth type people.

- powers and otherworldy things are accepted as well, even god-like characters (but if you do send in a god of a char. i WILL take him/her down; no reigning over the world, ya hear?)

-if you're absolutely DYING to have more than one character in this, wait at least 4-5 rounds after your first character was seen to sumbit.

now, let's get crackin', y'all!

* * *

You're casually minding your own business when suddenly a girl approaches you. Taking you by the hand she pulls you over to a quiet area.

"Hey there, the name's Lina, what's yours?"

(Your full name, then the name you prefer to be called, if any)

"Nice. So, before you start freaking out and accusing harrassment or something, lemme tell you..." She makes a sweeping motion and you see her two sisters and twin brother, the oldest of which is handling a camera. "You're on Total Drama Public!!"

(your reactions/thoughts/etc)

"So, pretty snazzy outfit, where'd you come up with this fashion statement?"

(what you're wearing, dyed hair/tats)

"Cool, cool. And...tell me about yourself, you know, as a little intro before Chris comes over here and runs you through a cheese grater or something equally stupid..."

(age, likes/dislikes, phobias/allergies, etc.)

"Hmm...swell." Lina looks over her shoulder and sees Chris approaching. "Well then...looks like we're set, but before you get roped into something exciting-CoughHorridCough- i'm supposed to let you know that the prize for today's tortu-i mean challenge is a fairly respectable $500. And look, it's not like we're cheap, we just want the show to last longer...what's with that face? Anyhoo...you'll see, now if you could just sign this contract we'll be good to go..."

(sign the dotted line)


	2. Round one: Walmart

Awriiight! I got my first four contestants: Marlynn, Doerenda, Allison, and Lilyy. Congrazzles y'all on being in round numero unooooo!!!

P.S.-to anyone who is thinking about entering, fill the app out like a conversation, THAT'S how I'm determining your personality and the way you normally speak, see how that works?

And just to say: I don't own chris or the contestant OCs, just the crew.

* * *

Round one: Wal-mart

Chris smiles his 'only-money-could-make-my-teeth-this-white' smile and launches into an intro. "Hello viewers, and welcome to Total Drama Public!! Unlike TDI, where we had campers, teams, and elimination challenges, TDP will have single lightning rounds of challenges with rotations of contestants that we pull out from the public! That's where I got the name." He winks and chuckles. "The prize for winning is $500 dollars, the challenges are a little less torturous but just as hilarious, and I can even include my crew in the challenges to spice things up a little!" "Ahem!" Chris narrowed his eyes, reluctant to have the camera move away from him. "Speaking of crew, here they are! The Nekuro clan!" The camera moves to show two girls and a boy. "The youngest one, with the pale lilac eyes and hair to match, who also happens to be blind…is Lily! Lily is a little angel." Lily waves shyly and shuffles behind her sister. "And the girl Lily just hid behind is our resident pervert, Lina!" Lina casts a bored look and resumes staring at Doe's tail. "Okay…moving on, this charming gentleman is Lina's twin, Steven! He's gay, sorry all you ladies out there!" Steven smiles and bows a little. The camera shifts around and shows a girl wearing a black blindfold. "And this is the eldest sister, Mika. She's mute, and for reasons unknown, she doesn't ever use her eyes, heck I don't even know if she HAS eyes!" The camera shifts to Chris again. "Well, with all formalities over, let's begin!"

Gesturing dramatically, Chris lead the crew to today's arena. "Since this is TDP, everything is public, including the places where the challenges are held! Lina! Venture forth into Wal-mart and pick out four random people and haul them to customer service!" Lina gave an eccentric salute and ran off.

* * *

After ten minutes Lina arrived with four girls in tow, Mary Lynn, Doerenda, Allison, and Lilyy. "Okay Chris, here's today's lucky contestants!" Lina began, introducing them. "This is Marlynn, she's my kind of girl because anyone who loves The Beatles and hates Hannah Montana is on my good list, and as a plus, she's in to extreme stunts! Wicked!" Lina hugs a girl wearing a Beatles shirt, silver running shoes, and ripped Capri jeans with 'daredevil' stitched down the leg. "Sweet, always a pleasure to meet another Beatles fan!" Marlynn bumped fists with Lina.

"Next," Lina removed herself from Marlynn and stands next to a girl wearing a black choker with a deer charm, neon green spaghetti strap shirt with a black unbuttoned short sleeved shirt over it, and black short-shorts, "is Doe. She's wild! Hehe, I know, I know, my puns are horrible. Anyways, she's got deer ears and a deer tail…hmm, wonder if her panties have a hole for her tail…" Lina reaches for Doe's black short-shorts, but Doe nips at Lina's fingers. "Ack! Well, as you can see, she's pretty energetic and maybe a bit loopy, but I bet you've got a sound head on your shoulders, yeah?" Doe blinked her neon green and blue eyes and grinned. "You got it!"

Lina edged over a bit and muttered to herself "Mark my words I WILL see your panties, deer woman!" She directed her attention to a girl clad in a very short black dress with jeans and black converse. "This is Allison, she's cool, being a drummer and all. But don't toss any lemon-type things at her!" Allison nods and taps a rhythm on the side of her leg. "Um…just to let you know, besides the allergy I've also got asthma so…" Lina nudges her gently "No worries, if anything triggers, Steven will be there to assist you in five seconds flat. He hates seeing people in distress, especially girls."

"And last but not least, is Lilyy! Hey, you know your name is nearly the same as my sister's?" Lina slung an arm around the shoulders of a girl in a black tank top, dark skinny jeans, black army boots, black wristband, black choker necklace, and with a spider web tattoo on her neck. "You sure don't LOOK like my angelic sis though, you look like the type of girl to draw while listening to some hard rock, am I right?" Lilyy nodded and shrugged off Lina's arm awkwardly. "Yeah, but contrary to the way I'm dressed, I do NOT like the whole twilight obsession." She pulled a disdainful face. "I hear ya sister, vampire love just ain't my thing."

"Well, now that we've covered all beginning bases, I'm your host Chris, and I'm sure Lina has already informed you that you're on Total Drama Public!" Chris clapped his hands once and gathered the girls in a semicircle around him. "To win today's challenge and score a cool five hundred dollars to line your pockets, you'll be racing around the store to find bright green Task-Tags, which have a variety of mischievous tasks for you to perform. All you need to do to win is make it back to customer service with five tags, but watch out, if a Wal-mart staff person catches you and kicks you out…well, you don't win." "Uhm…isn't that…illegal?" Lilyy asks. Chris laughs heartily "Illegal? I've got such superior lawyers, I could blow up the moon and get away scot-free! Don't worry about it, you won't be doing anything illegal, just very annoying. You'll have such fun! That is…unless the manager decides to pull out all stops and let guard dogs loose…but don't worry about it! With all said, let the mischief BEGIN!" Chris pulls a party popper with a BANG! and all four girls raced off to different areas of Wal-mart.

* * *

Doe raced to the clothing section, bowling over an elderly woman on the way. " I see one!" She yelled triumphantly. Taped to a thin lacey bra and panties set was a bright green tag. Doe practically leaped at it and read aloud "Put super sexy lingerie in elderly men's carts when they aren't looking." Blink. "…HAHAHAHA!! Awesome!" Doe grabbed an armful of the sexiest lingerie she could find and looked around, tail wiggling in excitement. "Hm…this calls for some special skills…aha! First target sighted!" Doe crawled on the floor into the empty space inside a circular clothes rack next to an old man browsing the shirts. Carefully, she waited for the man to turn then tossed a pair of flaming pink sparkling spandex panties into the man's basket. "Buahaha!" She giggled silently to herself before taking the tag and crawling off in search of any other targets.

* * *

"WHAAAT?? You gotta be kidding me!" Marlynn rubbed her temples while staring down at the bright green tag taped to a music sampler station in the CD section. "Ask everyone in 'Electronics' "Do you know what CD this song is on? I don't know the name but it goes like this:". Then sing loudly, and don't stop until somebody tries to throw you out. Sing whatever you want, but for maximum hilarity, Lina suggests 'Jizz in my pants'." Marlynn removed the tag and saw that said song was already ready on the sampler. She put on the cushy headphones and hit play. "…Well…it ain't Eighties…but I guess it'd work better than 'Hey Jude'." Marlynn innocently tiptoed to the Electronics checkout counter and waited her turn in line. "Welcome to Wal-mart. How may I help you?" The man at the register asked. "…Changed my mind." She retreated back to the CD racks leaving a puzzled employee. After weighing some pros and cons, she deiced to return for another shot. "Ah, it's you again. Need any help now?" The clerk raised an eyebrow in mild amusement. "Well, you see, I need help locating a certain album…Do you know what CD this song is on?" The clerk stepped out from behind the counter and followed Marlynn as she led him to the music aisles. "I forget the name, but it goes like this…

_Last week - I saw a film  
As I recall it was a horror film  
Walked outside into the rain  
Checked my phone and saw you rang and I  
Jizzed in my pants_!"

The clerk, dismayed at the fact Marlynn was singing slightly inappropriate lyrics at the top of her lungs, rushed to seek aid from other staff.

"_Speeding down the street  
when the red lights flash  
Need to get away  
need to make a dash  
A song comes on  
that reminds me of you and I  
Jizz in my pants_!"

Marlynn continued, edging away warily as she noticed other customers filing complaints concerning her singing.

"_The next day my alarm goes off and I  
Jizz in my pants  
Open my window and a breeze rolls in and I  
Jizz in my pants  
When bruce willis was dead at the end of sixth sense I  
Jizzed in my pants  
I just ate a grape and I  
Jizzed... in... my pants  
Jizzed... in... my pants_!"

"HEY YOU!" Two burly security guards came barreling around the corner. "YIPE!" Marlynn beat a retreat at breakneck speed. "Agh! How do I lose them???" She sped to the clothing department, hoping to lose her pursuers in the maze of clothing racks.

* * *

Allison was furtively darting through the sporting goods section, geared up in hunter's camouflage and trying to carry a fishing rod as discreetly as possible. "Stupid tag…'Take fishing rods & a fishing hat from Sporting Goods to the Pet Department. Pretend to fish in the goldfish tanks.' what kind of fool would even THINK of these kind of things." She whistled casually as she crossed the main walkway and into the little aisle in the back with a wall of fish tanks. Opening up a tank of goldfish, she dropped in her hook and stood there. "…This is boring………" She held the pole loosely in her left hand and air drummed with her right. A few customers walked by and asked if anything was biting…she just gave them a withering look and resumed air drumming. Soon Allison was drumming with both hands and the hook was dancing around in the tank, tapping out an erratic beat on the glass until it broke free of the water and came swinging back at her. "Ouch!" She hissed and pulled the hook out of her leg. "Great…" She sighed and watched a minute trickle of blood traverse down from the puncture wound. "Screw it, these fish need to die for what they did to me." She plunged her hand into the tank, grabbing the hook and securing it to the edge of the tank so it would hold. Grinning evilly at the unsuspecting fish, she played the scene through in her head: she would enthusiastically 'fish' while subtly jerking the tank off it's safe perch. "WHOA!!! Thar she blows! The great White Whale!!" Allison reeled the line, bending the rod with tension and thrashing about frantically. "MOOOOOBY DIIIIIIICK!!!" By now, a small crowd had gathered at the mouth of the aisle, some taking pictures with their cellphones. "What in Davey Jones's Locker is going on here?!" An aquarium maintenance employee stormed up to the crowd, dispersing them to get to the source o the uproar. CRAAASHHHSPLLLSSSHHH!! Allison's wild frenzy had pulled the tank right over the edge of the shelf and it came crashing down, spilling twenty goldfish and excesses of water everywhere. "Gyaah!" The employee slipped and stumbled while Allison raced off, a cackling blur in the pet aisle.

* * *

Lilyy milled about the magazine racks, lurking until…"3:05! Break time at last!" The clerk from lane 6 locked up her cash register and power walked to the employee lounge in the back. "About time! That loser wouldn't stop being a friggin cheery look-at-me suck up." She noticed the clerk had left the lane's power on. Scanning the area for security, she clambered up onto the rotating item belt and kicked on the switch. "Heh, this kinda reminds me of that music video with the guys on treadmills." Some of the customers in the adjacent lines began peeking over the gum racks to get a better look at the black clad girl jogging on the lane's item belt. Lilyy scanned her tag and recited her line. "This is the best shape I've been in years! And the best thing is, my membership was free for the first three months!" Many passersby stopped to take a picture or giggle. All of a sudden the lane's number lit up red and the belt stopped, momentum jerking Lilyy off balance and sending her flying into the cash register. "OW! You jerks!!" She regained her footing and ran, retreating from the approaching security guards into the toy section.

* * *

Marlynn was hiding in the middle of a circular rack, the security had long lost her trail, but she had found another tag. "Okay, how do I do this without getting caught?" She tentatively stepped out and quietly followed the tag which had somehow gotten taped to the back of a male teenager…and of course the tag had 'kick my nuts I'm kinky' scrawled on the visible side. Quickly she ripped the tag of and darted into the chips aisle. The tag had two big words on it : RED ROVER. "Yes! This is SO up my alley!" She walked swiftly down the main walkway, looking down the food aisles or a lineup of people. Grinning like a pikachu in a power plant, she took up a runner's position at the head of the frozen dinner aisle where a group of five young men were lined up, debating over whether to purchase hash browns or tater tots. Marlynn took a deep breath and shot down the aisle. "RED ROVER, RED ROVER, I CALL MARLYNN OVER!!!" She bellowed, smashing full-force into the men and dashing out the other end of the aisle leaving behind a tangled wreckage of men in her wake. "The daredevil strikes again!" She could hear the men recovering and continued her run into the baby section to hide and catch her breath.

* * *

Doe cackled, watching an old man being punished by his wife for having slutty lingerie in his possession. "Hahaha! This is just TOO good!" She wandered into the outdoors section, looking out for any tags. She was about to follow a spandex-clad teen when a sliver of bright green caught her eye. Nestled between two outdoor tents was a Task-Tag. Doe snatched it and read, her eyes speeding over the words and her grin growing every second. Seven minutes later, a large camping tent was constructed in the middle of the main walkway equipped with a boom box and a cooler full of drinks. Doe, dancing happily inside, waited for some curious customer to unzip the flap and ask what was going on. It wasn't much longer before zzzzip! A woman peered in at the dancing Doe. "Excuse me young lady, but what do you think you're doing blocking the walking space with this tent?" Doe grinned. "Sorry lady, you can't come in! This party is exclusive VIP invite only! Tell you what, I'll invite you in if you bring pillows from the Bed and Bath aisle!" The woman bewilderedly zipped the tent flap halfway up and moved along. Before long, a lanky teen opened up the flap and pulled down his purple tinted shades. "Woah… dudette, are you having a party?" Doe swiveled her ears toward the boy to better hear him over the blaring music. "Yeah man! You wanna get in, you gotta bring pillows!" The teen quickly ducked out looking like he didn't want to get involved, but he shortly returned with a large burden of various pillows. "Stick it to the man, deer woman, yeahhh!" He tossed the pillows inside as Doe tossed him a drink. "Ahh yes, life is good." The two opened cans and toasted their brief moment of relaxation.

* * *

Lilyy was sitting against the bike racks, keeping a wary eye out for guards. When she finally recovered from her all out sprint, she stood up. "Dangit, I'm gonna need a little more speed the next time I try to lose security!" She slammed her fist into the rack, causing a few bikes on the upper racks to teeter dangerously. As Lilyy silently fumed over how monstrously buff the guards were a Tag fluttered down from the racks. "Oh?" She picked it up. "Ride a bicycle through the store; claim you're taking it for a test drive." She surveyed the bicycles, checking the design and bakes on a few until finally settling for a rugged black bike. "Eh, missing something…" She walked over and grabbed a few bike chiains off the wall and decorated the metallic black frame with them. "Perfect!" Grabbing a helmet from the nearby wall Lilyy took a running start, swung herself onto the seat and pedaled like greased lightning. "How ya like me now, Wal-mart security! Eat my epic goth dust!!!" She cheered, zooming around the aisles and creating gusts of wind in her need for speed.

* * *

Allison was lying on the cold linoleum clutching a Task-Tag, completely drained and trying hard to catch her breath. Three electric turkey carvers, five hand saws, a pack of Scooby Doo band-aids, and one hundred twenty eight action figures later she had taken up the entire action figures aisle with a full on war between the G.I. Joe and X-Men action figures. "Must…go on…will not…let asthma…take me now… " Unexpectedly someone took her hand and gently helped her to her feet. "Hello Allison, it appears as though you'd appreciate my assistance." She tiled her head up to find herself face to face with Steven's sparkling dark chocolate eyes. He had a hand placed on her lower back for support and was holding her hand. "…" She tried to remain focused on the task of steadying her breathing. Smiling warmly Steven dug in his pocket and placed an inhaler in her hand. "And here's a megaphone," he said with mirth in his tone. "so you don't waste your breath again. I would know, I wrote this particular Task Tag." "Thanks." She took a few breaths caught her second wind. Allison stood on her own and stepped up on the empty shelf facing the main walkway. "Step up! Step up! Witness the war to end all wars, the battle of the millennium, the clash that will answer all your problems! The G.I Joes versus the X-Men! Place your bets, place your bets!" She called out like a shady dealer at a carnival booth. Many people started to come by, tossing spare change into buckets for either side, and many children planted themselves right in front of the action…That is, until janitorial personnel showed up. Swinging a gnarled mop saturated with water of questionable origins, a grizzled old janitor swiftly shooed away the adults first, then the children. "You, missy, have been causing QUITE the commotion, and I want it to STOP!" He barked at Allison. "NO! I refuse to lose because of a dirty old fogey!" and in an act of pure desperation, she hopped on a skateboard and sped off.

* * *

Unfortunately for the two speedsters there was about to be a messy crash in aisle three between two girls wearing black, one mounted on a bicycle and another on a skateboard. Allison whizzed around a corner and sped down the main walkway, toward the maze of food aisles. "Getcher troublemaking rump back here missy!" The furious old janitor screamed after her, giving chase on an in-store golf cart. At the very same moment Lilyy was catching some intense air by taking her bike off a mad jump. An employee setting up a display had assembled a ramp on which to display the latest flavor of Oreos, but Lilyy deemed it the perfect jump to take the bike on. "Wheeee!!" And, like anything else could make this situation worse, Doe was nibbling on a Tag and prancing through the food section, throwing random items into the neighboring aisles. "Lalala, pretzels in the ice cream section! Cheese in the bread section! Pickles in the yogurt section!" Crash! Splatter! Mush! It was quite an amusing sight, really, to look up and watch as food flew overhead only to explode or splatter in a different aisle. As Doe continued her furious food fling, an oozing trail of mixed spilled liquids trailed its way onto the walkway in front of the food section. Lilyy's ride hit the linoleum with a splat "What the?! Is that pickle juice and queso? GROOOSSSS!!" She tried to brake, but the collection of fluids acted like lubrication and the tires could gain no traction. Allison rounded the next corner, looking over her left shoulder to blow a raspberry at the janitor as her skateboard sloshed right into the muck. "Hey! HEY!! INCOMING!!!!" Lilly screeched. Allison turned and had four seconds for the look of dawning comprehension to etch into her features before impacting hard into Lilyy. The skateboard stuck under the bike's wheel and flipped Lilyy over the handlebars onto Allison and both girls ended up in a pile in the sea of liquids, both knocked out.

"Whoa!" Marlynn winced at the sight, surveying the wreckage. She had been running around with a pair of navy and silver striped women's panties on her head for eleven minutes, and was in possession of three Tags. By now Wal-mart was literally swarming with thoroughly disturbed customers and outraged staff members. She looked up and spotted Doe on the opposite side of the walkway, wide eyed and giggling. A look of realization passed between them and in a flash both had lunged for the bodies of the fallen. Wrestling viciously on top of two unconscious teens while lubed up by olive oil and tapioca was by no means any easy feat. Passing males ran to the scene, whistling and catcalling at the girls digging in each other's pants. "YES!" Marlynn scrabbled out of the mass clutching two stolen Task-Tags with Doe not far behind. "Oh no you don't!!" Marlynn squeaked as a bottle of squeeze cheese narrowly missed her head, Doe had resorted to throwing more food. "Ah crap!" Marlynn veered hard to the left and made a mad dash through the checkout lanes. "Whatsa matter? Taking the long way to the fin--AAARGH!!" While she was distracted she failed to notice the human barrier blocking the main path to Customer service and hurtled headfirst into a formation of Wal-mart security.

* * *

"Well, well, WELL! It seems we have our winner!" Chris exclaimed, clapping while the Nekuro siblings coated Marlynn with confetti. "*Gasp…gasp…*" Marlynn collapsed at the host's feet, holding up five bright green Task-Tags. Chris gingerly held the food-coated tags away from him with two fingers, "Marlynn, for winning today's challenge you are awarded FIVE. HUNDRED. DOLLARS!" He tossed the tags aside as Steven helped Marlynn up and handed her $500 and a large towel to clean herself off. "YEAH! WOO!" She hopped and cheered so energetically she sent specks of food-sludge flying everywhere. "Blargh!" Chris hid behind Lina. "Um, Chris…" Lily walked up with Doe, each supporting a groggy Allison and Lilyy. "Don't you think we're going to be in serious trouble with Wal-mart now?" "Correct, the whole lot of you are hereby BANNED from stepping from on any Wal-mart property in the country!" A sweaty maroon faced man wearing a grey suit with a bad comb over advanced on the group. "I've posted your faces on the Wall of Shame! Now GET OUT!" He roared, sending everyone running for their lives.

Panting, Chris smiled and addressed the four teens. "Well, great effort all four of ya! Let's have a round of applause for our lovely ladies, Marlynn, Doe, Allison, and Lilyy!" Clapping followed briefly. "So, today's mayhem has been strewn and what a challenge it was! A thrilling finish by our winner Marlynn! What will happen next time? Tune in to find out on Total Drama Public!"


	3. Round two: Hobby Lobby

*Fanfare* Presenting chappie two of TDP! Apologies for the wait, I know it's been a while…anyways thanks for receiving this so well! :D I'll try a more spaced-out format this time and see how it goes!! Oh and BTW, the next chappie might be slow in coming as well…I've got an Orchestra Pop Music Concert coming up and I'm first chair/concert mistress…ACK! THE PRESSURE!!

*Note- there's one convo between Lily and Mika that might look a little weird, so instead of re-wording the whole thing I just put the translations in parentheses (because Mika is mute)*

**Goddess of Power **~ I wasn't planning on any returns, but if an idea comes along where I need some past cast it's possible…slim chance though, sorry. And you're right…looks like Lina will never know now. :O

**Paka-Simon-Trevor-Forever **~ Heh, you're name takes a while as well! Call me Lina, and what should I call you?

**Hood Star **~ Well in that case, hurry up and enjoy this chapter!! XD

* * *

Round Two: Hobby Lobby

Lina grins and starts an introduction. "Howdy y'all!" A foam ball hits her head. "Hey! Meh, fine we'll do it _your_ way. Hi all you viewers out there! This is Total Drama Public, lightning rounds of challenges in public places with random civilians competing for $500! By now you're probably pondering why Chris isn't here, right? Well, Chris is in the manager's office trying to get permission to use the store's numerous security cameras and vacate the area because he said there'd be a 'surprising twist' in today's challenge…he doesn't tell us anything…." Lina tapped her foot. "Aaanyways, let's kick this thing off! I'm going to go into Hobby Lobby for today's contestants!"

After a brief wait, Lina returned with four teens to find a giddy Chris. "Dude, seriously, why'd I have to do your intro?" She growled at the unshaken host.

"My dear Lina, you have no idea what's in store. Now, on to business, who have you brought for us this time?." He asked.

Lina leaned against a chilled out dude wearing an ocean color scheme of ripped jeans, blue top, worn blue high tops, and dark purple sunglasses. "This guy here is Takeru, but let's keep it down to TK. Partying, pranking, anime, and a hate for Britney Spears…the whole package!" Lina snuck in a quick glomp before he could swat her away and moved on.

"This here is Lexi, she's in to fashion quite apparently." Lina said, checking out her pink tank with 'Lexi' on it, jeans, cute pink sandals, and noting the pink eye shadow. Lexi, however didn't seem to notice Lina staring at her as she was distracted by the fabrics section, clothing designs popping up in her head. Lexi tore her attention away from the fabrics. "Hm? Oh you were talking to me…I love TDI, so I expect TDP should be just as great!"

Lina moved over to another guy, getting close, but not quite invading any personal space. "And here is Miguel." He turned to her. "Chica, just call me Joker." "Ooh, if you're Joker can I be your Harley Quinn? Ahehe! Sorry, bad pun!" He gave Lina a side glance and shrugged. "Obviously you're not someone to screw around with! I mean, studs pierced in both ears and tats…you've got a pretty dangerous aura!" She edged away a little, studying his baggy black tee, slightly baggy brownish khaki dickies shorts, and all black vans. "Look, just keep Chris away from me, he pisses me off big time. I've been arrested twice, I'd rather not let there be a third." He shot a dark look at Chris. "Will do." Lina said and latched on to the final contestant of the day.

"Hey Ignaeteos, I'm on television, WHAT NOW?! Oh hey, I'm Blaze." The girl in biker clothing said with energy. Lina grinned. "Nice bandana, lovin' the sun-gold color too! Well, unless you're dense you'd know that this is Blaze! She's a biker, obviously, and she loves circuses! Heck, her theme song is Circus by Britney Spears. Ooh, conflicting interests…" Lina glanced over at TK. "Well, just because I love that song doesn't mean I'm not dangerous…but I'm not gonna explain that." Blaze said, cracking her knuckles.

Chris stepped in, nudging Lina aside. "SO! Now that we all know each other, I think it's about the right time to inform you as to why we're using the store cameras instead of my crew." He leaned back and chuckled to himself.

"Get on with it already!!" Lina shouted at the pompous host.

"Hah, suspense! The challenge of the day is Capture The Flag! Everyone has their own flag, and when two people are left the one with the most flags in their possession is our champion! If your flag is captured you may not steal. However you may either help someone else capture flags, or keep them from getting any!"

"A'ight, simple. The rest of you are going down." Joker smiled, flexing a bit.

"Aha, but it ISN'T that simple, because you see, the crew will be participating too!"

Mika snarled and lunged at Chris, but Steven and Lily quickly intervened.

"Yes you heard right, instead of four players there will be eight! And just to make sure that there's a fair chance for you four, the siblings will not be allowed to capture flags, only protect theirs! Also, since I am aware that there will be an even number of flags in play, there's a ninth flag hidden in the store to prevent a tie!" Chris smirked evilly at the Nekuro siblings.

Lina sighed and fastened an easy-release bright green triangular flag to everyone's belt loops, putting a belt on Mika and Lily so they could wear theirs.

"Now, quit wasting time! You'll get ten minutes before hunting is allowed to set up your game plan, be it crafting weapons or building a defensive fortress or just finding a good ambush site. I'll be monitoring the action from the security room and will alert you via P.A. system when your time is up, Get going!!" He pulled out an air horn and dismissed the teens with a loud blare.

* * *

Lina ran to the paint aisle. "Hehehe! I'm gonna play mind games with 'em all! Bwahahaha!" She grabbed a large palette and started opening paints…

* * *

Lexi was lounging in the Needlework section. She had brought in a comfy chair and pillows from the Home Accents area and set up plenty of traps. It looked like there were pretty rugs at both ends of the aisle, but the rugs were loaded with sensitive triggers that if stepped on would cause thousands of needles to rain prickly death down on you.

"Well, now that I've got a base, time for some quality time with the fabrics!" She let out a small squee and walked through the nearly impossible to find 'safe path' over the rugs and bee-lined for the vast expanse of fabrics and threads.

* * *

Joker was in the crafts section, specifically, the sculpture supplies aisle.

"I guess since I'm up against mainly girls, I can just scare 'em into handing over their flags." He mused aloud while sharpening the end of a large wooden dowel with a sculpture knife.

"Besides, nobody wields a weapon better than I do." He finished his work with the dowel which had become more or less a narrow yet formidable blade.

* * *

"Ah, there we go! A devilishly handsome mask for an equally handsome gentleman." Steven smiled at the mask in his hands.

He had been sitting in the party aisle of the crafts section and made a mask with cat ears and slits for his eyes that only covered the top half of his face. The mask was studded with shiny crystal-like gems and had a crest of black and white feathers accenting the top left side.

"Now all I need is to fashion for myself a cape and locate a suitable weapon of the defensive sort. Oh, I'll be ever so debonair!" Steven said happily to himself.

* * *

Blaze hummed contently to herself as she rode around the main walkways in her new ride. Instead of running off to make something, she hijacked a motor scooted for disabled people from the front and made a few modifications. She had transformed the awkward, clunky scooter into a terrifying speed machine.

"Haha! Perfect … I've outdone myself!" She stood with her fists on her hips, grinning victoriously.

* * *

"Mika, what's the point of all this? Can't we just use our real powers for once?" Lily asked her sister.

"…" ('_The time has not come yet._'). Mika continued to work furiously with many different yarns, knitting up something fierce.

"Don't '…' ME! I for one know what I'm doing, and I've become quite frustrated that we've not once been able to cut loose!"

Mika smirked and her shoulders twitched.

"Stop laughing, I _know _you've been dying for a chance to…don't you hate your body like that?" Lily asked.

Mika stopped for a moment to face Lily. "…!!!" ('_You're just jealous that I'm stronger than you!!!_' ).The mute answered.

Lily, of course, understood Mika perfectly. " Hey! Am not! …Well, no point in arguing, I'm sorry for complaining to you, Mika." Lily said, talking enough for both of them.

"…"('_Why don't you get ready for the game?_').

"Well, I guess so. What you're planning with that yarn I've no clue, but as for me, I believe I'll play the rogue this time. Stalking the territory with a large weapon in hand as I am so fond of doing. That being said, ta-ta for now." Lily walked away toward the garden décor area with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"…" ('_What an oddball…_') Mika said and continued to knit.

* * *

Takeru sighed and readjusted his grip on the mirror he was carrying. He stopped, placed the three by three foot mirror down and grabbed a hand mirror from his pocket. He looked into the hand mirror while rotating it around to view all angles above him.

"No hidden flag here… maybe near the registers?" He put the hand mirror back in his pocket and continued.

He mentally congratulated himself on his strategy. He had fitted his sunglasses with small mirrors at varying angles so that even looking straight ahead he could see nearly every angle around him. He had eliminated all blind spots, thus preventing ambushes and giving him a perfect view of everything around him that the others did not have. The large mirror was just an extra precaution, as it acted as a shield and slight camouflage.

* * *

The speakers above crackled on. "Contestants! Your ten minutes are up, you may now begin capturing flags!"

The P.A. clicked off and every teen was filled with adrenaline by the thought that they'd have to hunt or be hunted.

* * *

Steven stepped jauntily past shelves of Do-It-Yourself models, now fully decked out in his mask and a sparkling silver cape. He had fashioned a handle for his dowel and covered it with silver paint, morphing it into a foil.

"I suppose that I'll locate the hidden flag and act as its guardian…but however will I find it before the others?"

"_This is ten percent luck…_" A voice like a shadow breezed past his ears.

"Stand and fight!" He whirled around, brandishing his foil.

"What…?" He let out a puff of breath and readjusted his mask, seeing nobody around.

"I must be crazy…" He shrugged it off and continued his search, completely oblivious to how a section of the models distorted slightly before straightening again.

Steven heard faint humming and silently ran toward it. He soon found himself looking down the needlework section facing Lexi. There were mannequins and clothes strewn haphazardly along the length of the aisle.

"Wow! These are fabulous!" Steven squealed to Lexi, fangirling over the all the fashion covering the area. She looked up from her work at Steven.

"Thanks! If you like them so much, why don't you come over here and try a few on?" She managed to say around the pins held between her teeth.

"Well, don't mind if I-- wait, this is a trick isn't it." Steven's foot hovered just centimeters away from the rug Lexi had set.

"Um, no it isn't?" Lexi smiled cutely and tried her hardest to entice Steven to take one more step.

"Forgive me, Lexi, but I cannot believe that." He took a step back and used his foil to flick a pack of needles off the wall onto the rug. The area rang with a sound like a miniature gattling gun as needles showered down on the rug.

"EEEK!" Steven jumped in surprise. He held a hand over his heart to steady himself. "I see… best of luck to you then!" He gave a quick nod to Lexi then fled in minute terror.

Lexi sighed "Hmph, now I have to reset the whole thing!" She put down her current project and got up.

* * *

"You're a grade-A nutcase, ya know that? I swear you belong in an asylum or something!" Joker shouted at Mika.

Mika had turned the yarn aisle into a spider web of doom. She was suspended in the heart of the web, held above ground by thousands of strands looped all around her body.

"…" Mika grinned fully, showing Joker her abnormally long canines.

Joker didn't even blink. "You don't scare me, I'm taking you out. Your flag is mine!"

He raised his blade to slash at the first layer of yarn. Mika twitched her left foot and a heavy sewing machine atop the shelves nudged forward by a few millimeters.

Joker froze, he took a long and careful look through the yarn to look at the items on the shelves."¡Dios Mío! Everything in this freaky spider web is rigged to you isn't it?"

Mika nodded carefully, and to prove her point she jerked her head slightly to the right. A large box leaped off the top shelf and smashed into the floor next to Joker. He didn't even flinch, but he backed off quickly.

"You're safe, for now. I'll be back when I think of a way around those trigger lines." He scowled and stormed off down the nearest area past the shelves of D.I.Y. models.

"I dunno what kind of past that freak had, but she's something else. How'd she get herself up in the air with yarn?" He muttered to himself.

A voice like darkness answered from nowhere "_Twenty percent skill…"_

"Who's there?!" Joker turned and swung his blade in a powerful arc to hit his attacker, but his blade only whistled through air. "Ha ha, crazy girl must be affectin me or somethin."

* * *

Lily lurked around the large portrait frames. "Come here, my pretties…I'll force you to your knees!" She suddenly cackled.

She gripped a large metallic war hammer that she'd carved from a huge marble statue. It had captivated her as soon as she rounded the corner into the garden décor, it called out to her and in a trance she'd chiseled out a beautifully deadly war hammer. In her effort to make a gorgeous weapon, she'd also embossed some silver leaf on it.

She turned to the sounds of a motor. WHAM! Lily was thrown three feet in the air and landed hard on her back.

"Too bad I had to pretty much run over you, but I'll be taking your flag now." Blaze sprang off her uber-scooter and rapidly approached Lily's body.

"Heh, way too easy." Blaze reached out and snatched up Lily's flag.

"…Ah, but you underestimate me, Blaze." Lily rolled to the side and lifted her war hammer like it was a balloon. "Do not make the same mistake again!"

Lily swung, but at he last moment changed the hammer's course and connected a glancing swipe to Blaze's right leg.

"Augh!" Blaze fell to the floor, clutching her bruised leg. "Maxwell?" She asked, half delirious from the pain.

"I use a Silver Hammer, and I wield it masterfully." Lily said, and retreated to find a place to nurse her own wound.

Blaze limped over to the uber-scooter and hoisted herself on. Driving around a few shelves she parked near a bunch of model kits."What kind of innocent looking girl carves a war hammer out of marble in ten minutes?"

A sound like a silhouette echoed in the empty space _"Fifteen percent concentrated power of will…"_

"What the??" Blaze swiveled around in her seat hearing somebody, but seeing nobody. She shivered slightly and drove on.

* * *

TK was standing on register three to get a higher vantage point. He slowly combed the store for any trace of bright green.

"It looks like…it's in the glass bead cabinet! Aw crap, and there's Steven like a guard dog. Great." He sighed and hopped down.

"Hey! Ocean boy!" TK dropped down and held up his mirror. CLANG! The mirror deflected a direct blow from Joker's blade.

"What the heck? You're gonna seriously damage me with that thing!" TK kept shielding himself from Joker's onslaught.

"Whatev. You know what I want."

"Wait!" TK yelled over the noise of wood striking glass. "Let's make a deal!"

Joker lowered his arm slightly, staring hard at TK. "Well? You've got one minute before I take your flag."

"What if we capture everyone's flags except each others, that way the competition is taken care of and the hidden flag will be between just you and me." Joker looked thoughtful and for a second TK thought he would say no.

"Deal, on one condition. The first person you attack has to be that demented Mika chick. Yarn aisle, be prepared for a challenge." Joker turned on his heel and jogged off.

TK sighed and looked at his mirror. "Cracked…one more swing and it'd have been toast." He took a quick look around with the mirrors in his sunglasses and walked steadily over to the yarn aisle.

"Geez!" He took a step back in surprise. Mika was still suspended like some apocalyptic marionette in the midst of the deadly web.

Mika growled, sensing TK approach the web. She flexed her left ring finger and sent a flurry of knitting needles at TK. Another sound like a gattling gun and then a hideous shatter as the metal needles obliterated the mirror in TK's hands, exploding into shining glass shards. He grit his teeth as he pulled a few slivers out of his palms."Chill out, you made your point. Nobody gets your flag unless they disarm you."

Mika grinned, sensing a formidable challenger in TK. TK took a long breath and look at the sea of reflection around him. A spark of genius lit up his features and he dropped to the floor, collecting all the shards he could carry.

Mika growled lightly, twitching various parts of her body to carefully slide forward the heaviest objects on the top of the shelves close to the edge. Even though her web was nearly foolproof, she had one final maneuver in her arsenal: a kamikaze avalanche. She grinned spitefully to herself, if TK managed to breach the outer tangle of yarn she would bury herself in craft supplies…and he would go down with her.

"No hard feelings, Mika, okay? This'll prolly hurt you way more than me!" He said to her through the yarn.

He raised his arm back and forcefully threw dozens of mirror fragments into the web. Mika deadpanned, the sharp projectiles would pierce her as well as slice through the trigger yarn holding her up. TK watched frozen to the spot, unable to help as Mika's face twisted into an anguished roar. The shards of glass cut her and severed many vital strands of yarn, Mika fell and the contents of the aisle collapsed on her.

"Hang on dudette!!" TK shook off the shock and dove at the pile, scrabbling away items until finally unearthing the unconscious Mika from underneath it all. He pulled her free and lay her down on a nest of fallen yarn.

He took the flag from her belt and turned to leave, but turned back when he heard a soft sigh. '_Good game._' Mika's crooked grin seemed to say. TK nodded and hurried away from the wreckage.

Mika lay there regaining her senses when she sensed a familiar aura. She wriggled around until she had her head poking out into the back aisle. She turned to face down the aisle and directed her focus at the shelves of Do-It-Yourself models. Though she had no sight in reality, she could always see that which others could not. Against the gray matter was a subtle, swirling aura. 

_"I had the fortune of facing a worthy opponent." _Her thoughts projected in her mind.

A voice seemed to seep out of the shadows from the shelves. _"Five percent pleasure…"  


* * *

_

Joker was on his back, carefully picking needles out of his skin.

"You know, some people pay good money to get acupuncture. You got yours free." Lexi giggled at Joker, who looked rather like a hedgehog.

"I wasn't gonna hurt you, but you force me. You really do." He grimaced and yanked out a handful from his calf.

Lexi hastily put away her fabrics and got out a few large decorative metal wire spheres. "You'd better not cross those rugs Joker!" She threatened, lining the spheres up in a line across the aisle.

"Oh, and what are you gonna do about it? I'm not scared of anything you can do." He retorted, extracting the last needle from his flesh and getting on his feet. In a flash he had his carved wood blade out and was charging at Lexi.

"Well, I warned you." Lexi cheerily shrugged and took a step back. She made a short lunge forward and kicked the first sphere.

Joker dodged sharply to the right as the metal wire object went whooshing past his head."Crap, woman! Needles AND a killer leg?" He barked at her.

Lexi positioned herself for another kick. "I'm not just a fashion pro, my other love is soccer!" She shot her foot forward, twisting her ankle ever so slightly.

That slight twist gave the sphere a wicked spin and it flew in a curved arc catching Joker square in the chest. "Unf! That tickled…that all you got?"

Lexi's face was tense in concentration as she kicked the remaining three spheres in aimed, quick succession. All three scored direct hits, but Joker continued his advance. He rushed her with his blade, pinning her hands with the blade and taking her flag.

"See ya." He laughed and strode off. As soon as he was out of sight he went back to the one area with the least person traffic: the shelves of models. When he arrived he immediately shuddered and patted down every pin-pricked inch of his skin, his hands becoming littered with tiny speckles of blood.

"That…hurt…"

His shadow seemed to answer him. _"Fifty percent pain…"_

"Oh great, there's that creepy voice again. What are you trying to pull, Chris?!"

* * *

"Honestly, this time it's not me!" Chris huffed indignantly and crossed his arms.

"Maybe those model kits are haunted, who knows? Come to think of it…" He scanned over all 36 surveillance screens quickly, a frown growing on his face.

"Where's Lina? I don't think I've seen her this whole time since the hunting started…"

* * *

Blaze was careful not to be spotted by the others. From what she saw, so far Lexi, Mika, and Lily had been eliminated. Her strategy had changed from direct conflicts to stealing flags when there were only two others left. So far, it seemed to be working, everyone else was getting tired fighting except for her and Steven, who was mysteriously standing in front of an rode past the ruins of the yarn aisle and was about to turn the corner, but suddenly heard voices. She shut off the uber-scooter or a moment to listen.

"So, I trashed Mika like I said." TK told Joker.

Joker nodded. "And I got Lexi. So now there's only Steven and Blaze to worry about."

TK shook his head. "Actually, Lina's still in…but where she is I have absolutely NO clue."

Joker waved his blade dismissively. "You've got an all-around view, I'm sure you'll spot her sneaking around somewhere."

TK nodded his agreement and took a quick check around just in case.

Blaze muffled a grunt as she quickly pushed her uber-scooter back a few feet to avoid TK's super-sight.

"Well, you get Blaze's flags, cuz I think she's captured Lily's already. Keep an eye out for Lina for me. If you get two flags from Blaze, I'll need the flag from Lina. I'm gonna go take care of Steven now." Joker delivered their game plan and walked off.

TK sighed. "Great, why couldn't HE have taken Blaze? I swear it was her that made those wicked track marks around the portrait area." He turned and started off in the opposite direction of Blaze.

'Now's my chance!' Blaze thought and silently mounted her ride.

She carefully drove out into the open and was about to high-tail it to the yarn aisle ruins to ask Mika to team up with her when something bonked the back of her head. "Owwch!" She looked behind her and saw a cracked hand mirror.

"I see you." TK called out eerily. Blaze worked the throttle and sped off with TK in hot pursuit.

She was doing fine and even widening the gap between them when she made the misfortune of driving through the frames and mirrors area. Blood pounded in her ears as small mirrors and frames flew past her.

"NOOO!!" Blaze looked ahead and saw that TK didn't miss because he had lousy aim, he was knocking over larger frames up ahead to make a road block. The uber-scooter bucked when it hit the frames. Blaze was pitched forward luckily not sustaining any injury, but her modified vehicle skidded and bounced across the floor and smashed into the rack of paints. TK grabbed a large five by five frame and trapped Blaze under it. Blaze struggled but the frame kept her from getting any farther than three inches off the ground. TK calmly reached around and took Blaze's flags.

"Thanks a ton, Blaze. Oh, and if you happen to see Lina, tell me." He said and walked off to see how Joker was doing.

* * *

"You shall never win if this is your approach." Steven was posed in an offensive stance six feet across from teens had their weapons held at the ready.

"Fool, how am I supposed to take you seriously in that gay getup? It's not Halloween!" Joker stifled a laugh and did his best to look intimidating despite the fact Steven was making him want to break down into manly giggles.

Steven smiled and poised his foil for a strike. "Well, for one thing, I AM gay. And I am quite aware that Halloween isn't until October, I'm just eccentric. I mean, have you even MET my sisters? I'm the most sane out of us."

Joker got over his giggles and was actually serious now. "Prove it, sissy boy!"

He ran at Steven and extended his blade forward to stab Steven, but Steven was ready. Steven flicked his foil out and flung the wooden blade out of Joker's fist, then using his agility managed to whack Joker five times in various places before he could counter.

"You would've done well to actually consider my outfit. It's obvious that you didn't guess that I am a master fencer."

"Oh, like those guys that dress up in white padded armor and wear wire mesh masks? And the things you use are those whippy little needle-like swords?" Joker retrieved his blade.

"Correct. You need a longer weapon to get past me." Steven took up a defensive stance this time.

Joker just shook his head and smirked. "No need, I can still beat you down." Joker was formulating a plan of attack that Steven wouldn't be able to counter. He rushed Steven again, this time swinging his blade hard at the tip of Steven's fast approaching foil. CRACK! A few inches were instantly cut from the tip of the fencer's foil.

"My word! I'd forgotten that it was only wood!" Steven gasped and looked at his clipped weapon.

Joker grinned and charged again, again, again. Each time clipping a few more inches off until Steven's foil was nothing but a stub. "I told you. You may have fancy skills, but my blade was sharp enough to cut your fencer-thing down to size." Joker shoved his blade through a belt loop and forcefully tackled Steven to the ground, rolling him up in his own cape and taking his flag.

Joker stood up and came face to face with a slice of bright green. He grinned. "Looks like you did the work of finding the hidden flag for me!" He opened the glass bead case and plucked out the hidden flag.

* * *

The speakers overhead clicked on.

"Hahaha, great moves so far, competitors!" Chris's obnoxious voice sounded all over the store."Man, this stuff is gonna make some awesome television! The current standings are three people left! Joker and TK tied for the win with four flags each, and Lina who has somehow managed to elude everyone this entire challenge with one flag! Looks like it's sudden death time, the winner is whoever finds and captures Lina's flag! Chris, out."

And all was silent again.

* * *

The fallen competitors were currently hiding out near the registers, hatching a devious plot of their own.

"So, Chris said that we could help or hurt the remaining contestants, right?" Lexi asked.

Mika nodded. "…" Lily saw the confused looks on Lexi's and Blaze's faces, so she translated.

"Mika says that we should team up and help Lina because it's fun."

"It's '_fun_', that's IT?" Blaze questioned Mika, crossing her arms and staring unblinkingly at the blind mute.

Mika nodded once.

"Eh, works for me. Does anyone know where the heck she IS anyway?"

Mika nodded again, "…, …!"

And Lily translated once again. "Ooh, she's a genius! Come in close guys, we don't want ANYONE outside this group to hear this!"

Whispering, giggling, and gasps followed.

"So THAT'S why nobody could find her!" Lexi said, her jaw dropping slightly.

Blaze rubbed her head in relief. "Good things it was just Lina, cuz for a while I thought I was going crazy!"

"Now that her whereabouts have been established, what do we do about Joker and TK?" Steven interjected.

"Good question…let's think…." Lily said, then all were quiet, each concocting their own 'operation: help Lina'.

* * *

TK took a deep breath. "Easy now…there, that's good." He was perched atop a high shelf near the center of the store. "Just gotta sit, wait, and watch."

He cleared a comfortable area for himself and sat, facing ahead, but seeing all.

* * *

Joker muttered a long, rapid string of Spanish under his breath. He figured that Lina must be hiding and he should flush her out. He equipped himself with a paint sprayer filled with water.

"C'mon, Lina, you're only making it harder for yourself when I find you." He methodically snaked through the aisles, spraying water everywhere with enough space for a skinny girl to hide.

"Um…dangit what'd she say to me earlier…oh yeah! Lina! If you surrender now you can be my Harley Quinn! I feel really stupid to be shouting this…" Joker facepalmed. He walked into the back aisle and shot water at a clump of suspicious looking feather boas. His back was turned to the shelves of models as he soaked the mass of fluff in an attempt to find Lina.

"Lina…Lina…why the heck should I go through all this trouble anyways? I'm just gonna forget you later anyways."

A voice out of the gloom seemed to reply. _"And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!" _

Joker went stiff. "That's it! No more creepy voices! No more haunted shelf!" He sprayed the entire shelf down with a torrent of water.

"Daaaaang…" His eyes went wide, was reality melting? The models seemed to melt.

"Eep…looks like the jig is up…" When more of the models melted away, all that was left was a soaked and half-covered-in-paint Lina.

Joker shouted in surprise "WHAT. THE. F-"

* * *

"Freeeaky! Painting her entire body to blend in perfectly with her surroundings? Even _I_ wasn't expecting that!!!" Chris was hysterical, laughing so hard he cried. "That is SO bada-"

* * *

"Aha!" TK exclaimed. "So THAT'S her trick!" He spotted Lina running from Joker, paint flying off her like rain. He scrambled down from the shelf and gave chase.

* * *

"They found her! Quick!" Lexi and Mika ran to the paints while Steven, Lily, and Blaze made a mad dash to intercept Joker and TK.

"You freak! You were playin with all of us this whole time! You were tryin to psych us out and make us think we were goin loco!" Joker roared at her.

"Sure, but'cha gotta admit, it was totally raddie!" Lina shouted behind her to Joker.

TK skidded out from around a corner and Lina veered sharply left to avoid capture. "Yeah, I guess it was pretty impressive." TK yelled after her.

"FORE!!" SMACK!! TK went flipping high through the air. Luckily, Steven caught him before he went headfirst into the ground.

"Hole in one!" Lily and Blaze high-fived each other on the newly repaired uber-scooter.

* * *

"AHAHAAA!!" Chris was really crying now. "I--I just GOTTA get an instant slo-mo replay on that!"

The tape rewound and played in slow motion the hilarious hit-n-run. Blaze got TK in her sights and sped up to pass him. As they passed TK, Lily swung her silver war hammer straight into the backs of his knees at a curving upward angle, like golf. The force and direction of momentum of the swing sent TK soaring.

"Oh gosh, this is definitely going in the archives!" Chris barely managed to set the screens back to normal around all his laughing.

* * *

Steven took TK to the fabrics and wrapped him up, adding a ribbon as a finishing touch. "There. You keep out of trouble now, 'kay?" He patted TK's shoulder. And ran back to assist his sister.

"Guys! Am I ever glad to see you!" Lina saw Lexi and Mika up ahead, paint and brushes at the grinned at Mika. Lexi couldn't figure it out, but somehow the blind mute managed to teach her a crash course on body painting and optical illusions.

"Three minutes! That's all you got!" Steven cried and took a flying leap at Joker, pulling him down.

"Oh, you're in for a world of pain now!" Joker momentarily put the chase on hold as he grappled with Steven, who had returned to his normal attire. Lina sprinted to Mika and Lexi, panting hard.

"Okay, try to keep still now, this might tickle…a LOT." Lexi told Lina and then began painting on her with Mika.

"Girls!" Stevens call alerted the three to Joker's approach. "And…done! Get going Lina!" Lexi said and gave Lina a starting shove.

Lina caught her reflection in a mirror as she ran. Her body was covered in an erratic coat of black and white target-like rings, except the rings didn't overlap, their outlines merged and continued on. Joker suddenly came running out from the corner ahead of her.

"Gotcha!" He made a grab at her, but missed by a few inches." What the? I thought I had you!" He looked puzzled, but shook it off and ran after her.

"Lina! The trick is constant movement! Whatever you do, don't stay still!" Lexi yelled to Lina.

"Yeah! Wiggle around and stuff!" Blaze called out to her.

Lina's eyes lit up in understanding, the black and white design would distort her outline and screw with perception. They had painted an optical illusion on her.

Steven walked up beside his two blind sisters. "I made a deal with Chris."

"…!!?!"

"No Mika, I didn't sell him my soul. I convinced him that playing some music to get Lina moving to a beat would give Joker an even harder time getting his hands on her." And on cue, the speakers started blaring out a fantastic techno pulse.

"aw yeh! Thas ma JAM!" Lina whooped and synced her movements with the beat.

"Chris! You're dead when this is over, hear me? DEAD!" Joker screamed in rage. He made many attempts to grab Lina, but kept missing. Lina just danced and sang, completely in her element.

"_I wanna be your illusion,_

_be your illusion_

_To make you happy tonight_

_Enjoy this trip with me_

_I wanna be your emotion, _

_be your emotion_

_Why don't you turn off the light_

_Imagine how we could be living"_

Joker gave a frustrated grunt. "Fine, you wanna play? You're gonna get burned." He grabbed two paint cans and opened them. He aimed and tossed the cans high in the air, giving them a little spin so paint showered everywhere.

"Ack! Cover blown again!" Lina looked at her green and silver splotched body despairingly.

"UNF!!" Joker sprinted forward and knocked Lina back with a full powered tackle.

"Finally…I got you flag. I win." Joker grinned in satisfied pleasure and held Lina's paint covered flag above his head.

* * *

"Congratulations on the big win Joker, you're like a mega-predator!" Chris said. Coming out from the security office.

Joker whipped out a blade, a real one this time." I'm keeping my promise Chris. You. Are. Dead."

"GYAAAH!" Chris shrieked and locked himself in the security office.

The speakers clicked on. "Anyways, Joker, you're today's winner and you get the cash." Five one hundred dollar bills slid out from under the door.

Joker picked them up. "Thanks, man." He said, and left.

"Well," Lina said "I guess that wraps things up! Great game today y'all. And to the viewers, stay tuned for the next exciting challenge on Total Drama Public!!!"

* * *

Songs:

~Remember the Name by Fort Minor

~Illusion by Benny Benassi

~Maxwell's Silver Hammer by The Beatles


	4. Round Three: Red Robin

**AN-**Hey y'all! I bet there are a few people who are surprised to see this old thing rise from the ashes. After an extremely long hiatus on this, I've decided to pick it back up for fun. For fun meaning: no, it will not update regularly, and the chapters will most likely be greatly spaced apart seeing as I'm off to college soon. But hey, I'm still going to be writing chapters for EVERY SINGLE ENTRY that appears in my reviews (even though I'll be doing them in order/ first come, first served) so yeah...at least I haven't abandoned it entirely! Who am I to crush the hopes of all you eager app-submitting beavers, amirite? Oh, and don't be afraid to dish out any constructive crits, okay? Enough prattling, let's do this!

Y'all already know I only own my OCs, other OCs belong to their creators, and Chris and related TDI cast belong to...not me! Hehehe~

* * *

**Round Three: Red Robin**

Chris flashed a thumbs up to the camera and began. "Welcome back all you viewers! As you're probably familiar with, this is Total Drama Public! I, Chris, host lightning rounds of challenges using random people in public places competing for $500! This time, I called in a few favors and landed us a primo location!" The camera zooms back to show…Red Robin! "So, to get a good start on the day, let's send our victim scout to bring back some contestants! Lina, if you please!" The camera pans to the right a little and shows Lina sitting cross-legged on top of a speeding Black Jetta. The car screeches to a stop and parks near the front of the parking lot where Lina jumps off and runs inside. "Haha, that crazy girl."

Shortly, Lina returned with three girls and a boy. "Okay then! Please, introduce today's lucky four!" Chris told Lina.

"First up is Emily, isn't she just soooo likeable? She's the bubbly-klutzy kind of girl that I'd imagine is pretty popular." Lina stood next to a girl wearing a punky black mini skirt with a girly twist and a black, silver striped tee with 'Living The Life' written in bold letters, and black converse with gold stars. "Teehee! This'll be fun, right?" Emily asked, brushing a few strands of her brownish dirty blonde streaked hair out of her eyes. "Yep! Movin' on." Lina patted her shoulder and went to the next girl.

"So, I'm Lina, those are my siblings, and that's Chris. Howdy?" Lina said, extending her hand to a girl in grey skinny jeans and a sleeveless dark purple top. "Fine, thanks. I'm Samantha." Lina gave her a once over and smiled. "Hm! You've got nice vibes, dude. You're totally the kind of chick I'd invite to chill out!" Lina twirled a little and skipped to the next girl.

Lina stopped mid spin and swung an arm around the shoulders of a girl wearing a tie-dye cropped tee, olive green shorts, and brown hiking boots. "And this is Sara. Yeah, she may be pale and have black dyed hair, but she's not goth. You look like you enjoy a good hike every once in a while." Lina said. Sara smiled at her. "Yeah, just got back from a good hike with my Uncle Omar. Hiking and animals are all good, but I like computers too." "Spiffy, animals and computers make a great combo." Lina said and got a parting hug from Sara.

Lina walked over and linked arms with a boy wearing a short sleeved blue button up shirt over a black shirt with 'Professional Ninja' on it and blue jeans. Without noticing his light blush, she started speaking. "And finally, our last guest today is Sam!" "What's up? Y'know, I watched the last episode of TDP, mad paint skills Lina." He said. "Aw, thanks!" Lina pulled him closer, grinning and flashing a peace sign. "To continue, Sam loves playing with people's heads and anime cons. Oh, me too, mindgames are the BEST! Aaaand…" Lina said, studying Sam closely "You like the kind of guy who's soul wouldn't die if I told a pun or two…you're really my kind of guy!" Lina did a little hop and glomped Sam. "Ah…" Sam flushed bright pink and seemed to be at a loss of words.

Chris motioned toward himself and became the center of attention again. "Alright people! Now that we've done all our formal introductions, let's get inside Red Robin and start today's challenge! And here's a hint: The more familiar with Cooking Mama and Diner Dash you are, the better your chances of winning!" "Of course, you COULD win solely based on sheer luck!" Lina interjected." Chris's smile faltered as he pushed Lina out of the camera view. "You're not the host, scoot. Alright, let's go!" He motioned for everyone to follow.

The group made their way into the popular restaurant and was greeted by the manager. Chris had a few words with the man, then led the teens into the employee lounge. Before anyone could blink, the door slammed open and a huge, furious black man wearing a chef's hat and an apron stormed in and started waving a large butcher knife at the annoying host. "Pretty Boy! I thought I had a restraining order placed on your sorry butt! Get outta here!" He shouted at Chris. The host merely held his hands up and clicked his tongue at the man. "Chef, Chef, Chef. Restraining orders mean nothing to me, especially with the kind of lawyers I have. Now quit wasting our film, you're not in this season of the show!" Chris told him, shooing him out of the lounge as he spoke. Chef growled and swung his knife one more time. "Just keep yourself and your sadistic ideas away from me!" He roared and slammed the door behind him so hard the fluorescent light bulbs overhead shivered in their sockets. "…Oookay then!" Chris clapped his hands, calling all attention to himself once again. "Today's challenge consists of two parts! An early bird part and a night owl part. So for the early bird portion of today's challenge, everybody suit up!" Chris said with laughter evident in his voice as he threw diner-style waitress dresses in Emily's and Sara's faces, and chef outfits in Sam's and Samantha's faces. You will be on teams consisting of Emily with Samantha and Sara with Sam. One member will play the role of waitress greeting people, seating them, taking orders, delivering food, and busing the tables, but most importantly: collecting tips. The amount in tips you make decides which team gets the axe." He explained, giving a pause for this to sink in before continuing his preliminary explanations. "The chefs, obviously, make the food. Make it good and make it quick. The better your meal output is, the faster your teammate can serve it, which means higher patron satisfaction and more tips! And fear not! If you have absolutely NO experience in the culinary arts…well, I took the liberty of putting a quick 'n easy cookbook in the kitchen for you to refer to. The preparation in that book is so simple, a platypus could cook! And platypuses don't do much, ya know? Now, get to it! Your shifts are over at 10PM; breaks and drinks are allowed, but no eating because the food is for paying customers. So get to it teams!" He ended loudly. He and the crew left them so they could have privacy while they change into their uniforms.

Sam sighed and looked over at Sara who was smoothing out the wrinkles in her skirt. "You've got it easy, cooking and I really don't mix." Sara gave him a rueful smirk and commented "Well, do you want to swap jobs? I'm not too fond of this outfit…" "No! No, it's cool. I'll take pants over a skirt any day!" Sam said quickly, readjusting his apron and exiting the lounge. Emily and Samantha were on the opposite half of the room, checking each other's outfits and relaying strategies to each other. "So, what the best kind of attitude to have? Like, I don't want to seem like an obnoxious suck up, but at the same time I don't want to come off as too casual and uncaring." Emily asked Samantha. "Well, I think you should keep it down to earth. Be friendly like you've met before." Was the reply. Sara walked over to the two chatting girls and leaned against a table. "Ready for this? I get a really bad feeling about the second part of this challenge." She said to them both. Samantha looked over at Sara. "I know what you mean. What kind of sick rule is 'no eating while you're on break'! Does that mean the second part is an eating contest or something?" She wondered. Waving her hand dismissively she started toward the door. "Well, let's forget about it for now. We got a challenge to win!" She cheered and rushed out of the lounge.

The teens rushed to their respective areas and the challenge began. A couple of chatting women came through the doors. Sara picked up a couple of menus for them but Emily got there first, powerwalking quickly up to the women. "Welcome to Red Robin, table for two?" She put on her most sincere smile and ushered the ladies to a table. "Oh, it is ON.' Sara muttered, getting into the competitive spirit as a large children's birthday party made their way through the doors.

Inside the kitchen the chefs were having a hard time keeping up and staying alive. Every single move they made was under the strict watch of Chef Hatchet, who had no problem dishing out abuse. "Hey you maggot! That's too much mustard!" "That's not how you flip burgers!" "You call those french fries?" "My cat could make a better milkshake than you!" Samantha stopped mid-flip and turned around menacingly. "Look, I KNOW it's your kitchen, and that Chris gets on your nerves, but we're in the middle of a challenge here so could you kindly SHUT YOUR UGLY GAP-TOOTHED MOUTH?" Sam nearly dropped his order in shock. The military chef raised his infamous hatchet up, ready to strike. Samantha stood her ground and matched his glare. "Oh my gosh! Don't kill her!" Sam freaked out, grabbing a nearby knife and jumping in front of Samantha. Chef's arm quivered and he slowly lowered the deadly culinary weapon to his brow in salute. "You kids ain't as spineless as I took you for." He lowered his arm all the way and stomped out of the kitchen in a huff. "Well..." Sam said awkwardly. "Yeah..." Samantha returned. A voice hailed them from the other side of the counter. "Hey you two! We got hungry mouths to feed! Get back to work!" "Aye aye!" The said in unison and hastily went back to cooking.

"Oh gracious! I'm terribly sorry about all of this!" An embarrassed parent was holding back his twins, keeping them away from a basket of fries drowning in ketchup. "It's quite alright," Sara replied pleasantly "I'll take care of it." The teen had on a mask of politeness, but was seething on the inside. The birthday party that she had seated turned from cute to a disaster. Apparently the birthday girl thought it would be fun to start a food fight, and there were condiments and food bits strewn everywhere within throwing distance. Sara excused herself to go clean herself up, and in the restroom she happened to run into Emily. "Oh wow...you know we're not supposed to eat anything, right?" The bubbly girl gave her competition a once-over, smirking. The other girl just gave a snort in response and got to work removing most of the cake from her hair.

The lunch rush was beginning to die down, and the kitchen quieted down considerably. Samantha nudged Sam. "How about a break?" She offered. Sam nodded and followed her out of the kitchen to Red Robin's drinks bar where the crew was lounging. Lina and Steven were behind the bar, beckoning them over to the barstools. Steven leaned over the polished wood surface. "So, what'll it be? Seeing as you're still minors your selection is a bit limited, but that doesn't mean you can't order something fun!" He smiled charmingly. Samantha flopped heavily onto a stool and rested her head on the bar. "Doesn't matter, how about something pretty?" She said. Lina edged over to the next stool where Sam was seated. "And for you?" She asked. He looked spaced out for a split second before snapping out of it and replying "Something sweet?" He asked, not even bothering to look at the drink selection. Steven reached over and ruffled his sister's hair. "Here we go, one sunset lemonade slushie and one jubilee smoothie." Lina concocted a wildly colored smoothie and topped it off with whipped cream while Steven prepared a citrusy slush in mulitcolored layers like a sunset. "And here you are!" They finished in unison and placed the drinks in front of the chefs, the slushie for Samantha and the smoothie for Sam.

Back on the floor Emily was waiting tables like crazy. She was weaving around the restaurant, delivering food, picking up bills, and most importantly, receiving tips. "Heh, there's no way the other team can keep up!" She grinned to herself.

When Sara returned to the party table, the guests had left and other staff was already cleaning up the area. She sighed and went to pick up their bill, and much to her surprise a group of four twenty dollar bills was waiting patiently for her on top of the signed receipt as an apologetic tip. Sara pocketed the large tip and smirked. "Looks like I'm not out of the runnings yet!" She commented happily to herself as she prepared to seat another table.

Chris taped the intercom, counting down seconds on his watch. "Aaaaand...TIME!" All contestants to the bar, the first part of the challenge is over!" He shut off the intercom and cackled to himself. "I'm gonna love this part!" He laughed, going out to the bar to meet the teens.

Samantha, Sam, Sara, and Emily were seated on stools, sipping sodas and trying to not fall over. "Nearly a WHOLE day without food...is Chris trying to kills us?" Emily groaned. "Not likely." The host said, stepping over and leaning against the bar. The second part of this challenge just so happens to involve food." At this all four teens perked up. "But first, let's count the tips!"

The teams strained forward on the edges of their seats as Chris tallied up their earnings. He pocketed his calculator and dramatically announced. "Team Emily-Samantha scraped together $126!" The two girls cheered and high fived each other. "Not so fast, Team Sara-Sam pulled together...$193!" Sara flicked a sticky strand of hair out of her face. "I KNEW putting up with all those kids would pay off!" Emily gaped in shock. "But-she...That's impossible! I waited on nearly three times as many tables as she did!" "Quality over quantity. I pulled in fewer, but larger tips than you is all." Sara shot back.

Chris shepherded the teens to a table where a huge buffet of freshly made foods were laid out. "Welcome to part two!" Every pair of eyes was firmly glued to the food, the smell coming off of it causing a delirious mouthwatering reaction. "The losing team can sit down and dig in!" "Yes!" Emily and Samantha tore into the nearest dishes like starved animals. "As for you two" Chris halted Sara and Sam "The winner will be determined by who has the strongest willpower." Lily and Mika reached forward and slid particularly delicious dishes in front of the two. Sara faced off with a heaping plate of fried chicken, and Sam was giving the staredown to an enormous five-meat pizza. "Good luck you two. The first one to take so much as a nibble loses the challenge." Chris said, smirking as he grabbed some french fries to eat.

Minutes ticked by tortuously slow. Each second seemed to stretch into hours for the famished teens. The agonizing pain was made even harder to endure by the other teens eating on the other side of the table. Emily and Samantha were decimating a large slice of chocolate cake, and the crew was making quick work of an ice cream sundae. Samantha looked across the table. "You know, I really think one of you should just cave in and eat. That way the challenge is over and BOTH of you can have whatever you want on the table." She commented. Emily nodded and pushed their plates closer. "It's making me hungry all over again just looking at you two!" "This is nothing I can't handle." Sara stated resolutely, scowling at the crispy fried temptation in front of her. "Likewise." Sam said, attempting to curb his hunger on the scent of pizza alone.

Chris sidled over and whispered to the crew. He eased away smoothly, smirking. Lily leaned over the table toward the remaining two. "Hey Sara, if you go ahead and eat something, we'll give you $100 dollars no strings attached!" Sara looked in Lily's direction, but said nothing. Steven nudged his sister aside and took a shot at Sam. "Hey, if you throw the challenge, I'll set you up on a date with any girl you want. I've got plenty of connections." He offered, waving his cellphone in the air. Sam glanced up from the plate in front of him, and then quickly stared down at the food again. Lily shrugged and took a cookie from a nearby plate. "One of them has to crack sooner or later."

The minutes ticked by painfully slow, desperation and madness slowly creeping up in the starving teens' expressions. Suddenly Sara shot a hand out and placed her fingers on the chicken. Everybody leaned forward with renewed interest to see if she would finally break down and take a bite, but the determined girl simply ran her hands and fingers over the tasty fried food, trying to appease her appetite a little longer by touching what she so powerfully desired. Sam considered doing the same, but he figured getting his hands covered in pizza sauce and grease wouldn't do him any favors any time soon. The silence around the table was broken by a sound like a bear being strangled. Eight pairs of curious eyes whipped around and…oh, Chris fell asleep. Sara slammed her fists on the table and was about to stand up to throw in the towel when Sam grabbed Steven by the shoulders and yelled in his face "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE!" Steven grinned and eased the crazed teen of his suit, brushing imaginary dust off it. "Say no more my famished friend, just tell me what type of girl you're in to and I'll have you seated at a table together right after you've had a bite to eat." The rest of the girls were dumbstruck as Sam shyly shuffled up to Lina. "W-will you go on a date with me?" He asked over the rumble of his stomach. Lina flustered and sat down with Sam at the table "Of course I will! How convenient that we're surrounded with food, drinks, and desserts!" Happily, Sam laced his fingers with Lina's and took a slice of pizza from the plate in front of him. Emily kicked Chris under the table, jarring him awake rudely. "Snrrrk-huh? Wuzzat?" "Look! Sam's about the throw the challenge!" Everybody watched in amused amazement as Sam tried to eat everything within reach while still trying to appear tidy and gentlemanly in front of Lina.

"Well! What a day this has been! Chefs, waitresses, and unexpected crushes! Now this is what TDP's all about." Chris prattled on cheerily to the camera. Sara grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face her. "Hey, prize money for the winner, remember?" Chris plucked her hand from his shoulder like it was a dirty rag and took a step back. "Hey, watch the shirt, these things don't come cheap you know! Anyways, congratulations on your stunning victory, here's your five hundred big ones!" He took a stack of money from his pocket and handed it over to Sara who promptly thumbed through it, sighing with immense satisfaction. Chris beckoned the camera to focus on him rather than the teens. "Well there you have it, another exciting round of Total Drama Public! Tune in next time for more action, more thrills, and more crazy shenanigans!"


End file.
